


Five Times Leaf Coneybear Was Able to Repress His Feelings and the One Time He Didn't Have To

by at_the25annualputnamcountyspellingbee



Series: Five Times One Time [2]
Category: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Finn/Sheinkin/Reiss
Genre: M/M, SO, and by might I mean definitely?, i might be doing one of these for each kid now?, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-02 16:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14548443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/at_the25annualputnamcountyspellingbee/pseuds/at_the25annualputnamcountyspellingbee
Summary: Leaf has a major crush on Chip, but he knows that it's probably not best to act on it, because Chip obviously doesn't feel the same way.... Right?He can't risk letting Chip know, because he doesn't want to lose his best friend over feelings.  He's got to hide his crush.****REVISED 12/10/18****





	1. Is This a Crush?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaf is learning some things about the world now that his only friends aren't his siblings. One thing he's learned is that the smart boy in the tan shirt from this year's bee is also nice and friendly. Another thing Leaf has learned is that he like-likes this boy. A third thing he's learned is that this boy... likes his sister.

He was so, so happy when Chip came over to his house the first time. To Leaf, that was like planting a friendship seed in good, healthy soil. 

He liked plant comparisons. They made sense.

What didn't make sense was how he felt about Chip. They had met at the bee that spring, and now it was July. The past few months, when they had hung out at the Putnam County Fair and at the park and what felt like million other times, he had begun feeling this sort of lightness in his chest whenever he saw Chip. He wanted to hang around Chip all the time and just be near him. Leaf was pretty sure that this was what like-liking someone felt like. But Chip, he was pretty sure, had a crush on his sister Marigold. Although, weirdly enough, he never talked to her or asked about her, even though Leaf talked a lot about his family.

Leaf was twelve, and thinking hard like this wasn't fun. So, instead, he showed Chip around the Coneybear residence and led him through the trail he had forged in the nearby woods. All the while he felt this swell of lightness bubble up in his chest, threatening to spill out of his hyperactive chatty mouth.

"There's a lot of good climbin trees here! I like hangin out in that little one over there, specially when mom tells me to go outside. And that REALLY big one over there," he said, "is the tallest tree in the forest. Mom and dad won't let me climb it yet, but," he brought his voice down to a whisper as if telling some big secret, "sometimes when I'm feeling really super brave, I try."

Chip laughed at his tone. "Awesome. You get a whole forest to yourself. We don't have any trees at home. Just bushes and flowers."

"You should see it in spring! There's dandy-lions everywhere and Mari taught me how to make them into crowns! There's still a lot of flowers now, but it's so much prettier in spring when everything's blooming and new."

"Flower crowns?" Chip asked.

Leaf lit up. "Yeah! Here, this way, there's a flower patch! I can show you!!" He ushered Chip off the path. They ended up in a small break in the center of the forest decorated sporadically with bunches of tall, colorful wild flowers. Leaf plopped down next to a patch and started picking flowers. Chip hesitantly sat down next to him and watched as he wove the flowers into a crown. After using about twelve flowers, Leaf measured it around Chip's head. A few more flowers, he decided, and he went back to weaving. His hands moved but his mind wandered. He liked having Chip's attention on him even though it made him kinda nervous. He knew he was smart, but not as smart as Chip, and he liked being able to show him new stuff. He measured it again and, deeming it long enough, tied it and carefully set it on Chip's head. "Tada!"

"That's so cool!" He said. "We don't get to do stuff like that in scouts. We tie knots and we can learn botany stuff, but this is cooler."

Leaf grinned. "Really?" When Chip nodded, he beamed. The happy light feeling in his chest swelled. "Just a minute, I gotta make myself one!" He made one as quickly as he could, though his fingers felt clumsy and nervous knowing that Chip was watching. He managed to tie it closed and set it on his head. "Now we match!"

Chip smiled again. Leaf was beginning to realize what a nice smile it was. It was slightly asymmetrical, making it so much more natural. The skin around his eyes crinkled up. Leaf wanted to reach his hand out and touch Chip's face, but he knew that would weird Chip out so he didn't. Instead, he grabbed a handful of flowers and offered them to Chip. 

"Wanna try?" He saw Chip blush a bit but he figured it was because he was putting him on the spot. "I can help you through it, don't worry!"

"Sure!" He took the flowers and let them fall into a pile on his lap. He grabbed two like he had seen Leaf do, but he paused, unsure of what to do next.

Leaf decided the best way to help was to show him. He grabbed some flowers from Chip's pile and crossed them in a T shape. "Like this. Then cross this one under, over, and across." He wove the first two together and showed it to Chip, who nodded and copied it.

"Like this?" He asked.

"Yep! Then you hold the stems together and add another flower and do the same thing." He grabbed another flower and wove it in. Chip followed along carefully. He glanced up at Leaf questioningly. Leaf nodded. Chip grinned and looked back down at the small chain in his hands. He added more flowers on his own, slowly gaining more confidence in his actions.

"How big should I make it?" He asked.

Leaf thought hard, his tongue poking out between his teeth. "Well, we both have crowns," he thought aloud, "you could make it a bracelet! Or a necklace! Bracelets are small, but necklaces can be real long!"

"A necklace," he decided. He continued weaving flowers. Leaf let the example chain in his fall into his lap. He watched Chip, a little lost in the way his fingers moved so precisely as he knotted them together. He was pulled out of his trance when Chip put the necklace on. He held it up, looking at his handiwork. "Well?" He asked. "How did I do?"

"Ab-solutely fantastic," Leaf said with a small grin. He really did. It hit him suddenly that all he could think about now was how much he liked Chip and how cute he was. Uh... that would fade away, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had flowers on the brain lately, because dandelions are blooming like crazy around here.


	2. These Two Are Fucking Idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thirteen year old Leaf watches a movie with Chip and tries to combat feelings for the boy sharing a blanket with him.

Watching a movie with someone wasn't inherently romantic. Neither was sharing a blanket. After all, it was December, and the Coneybear household wasn't all that great at staying warm. They were bundled under several blankets, watching Leaf's current (it changed pretty frequently) favorite movie, RENT. Chip's school was on Christmas break, so really, it was the right time of year for it.

Leaf had a lot of reasons to like it. There was singing and dancing, it was pretty exciting, and, most importantly, there were gay characters. Every time Angel and Collins were onscreen together being a cutesy couple, Leaf's heart ached. A couple of times (well, for most of I'll Cover You, if he was being honest) he looked at Chip, longing for that kind of relationship. It didn't help that they were sitting right next to each other because it was freezing cold. He felt this temptation to reach for Chip's hand under the covers or to just give in and say how much he liked him. Watching a lot of romantic stuff would do that to a person, he supposed. But he kept his hands in his lap and his mouth zipped shut. He shoved the gushy feelings down into a little tiny ball in his chest. He was gay. Chip was not. It was just a stupid little crush that he needed to get rid of.

That was easier said than done. He and Chip were always hanging out, and the way Chip acted gave him just enough doubt to hold onto the hope of it working out someday. He was only thirteen. What else could he do? Weird emotional stuff was starting to happen, and even though he knew better, he thought that he could keep this crush for one more day. One more day. One more day to imagine holding his hand and cuddling him and kissing him. One more day to pretend that Chip might actually like him back.

He was drawn out of his contemplative state by La Vie Boehem. That was probably his favorite song after I'll Cover You, and he loved the blocking of the scene. He glanced between Chip and the screen, watching his reaction to the song. To keep his balance, he placed a hand on the couch between them. Chip's eyes widened at the word "dildos" and he laughed, shocked. As the song progressed, he kept laughing and smiling, seemingly amused by it. The room was dark, but Leaf swore he blushed a bit when the people onscreen moved aside to show Angel and Collins kissing. See? A stupid sign to give him some more desperate hope and a reason to hang onto his crush for another day.

The movie continued on, though Leaf didn't pay that much attention. He chewed his lips and thought about how risky it would be to scoot closer to Chip on the couch. He also thought about how badly he wanted to kiss Chip, but he tried to shove that away. Tried, key word. His thoughts moved to whether or not Chip would be good at kissing. Had he kissed someone before? If Leaf kissed him, would either of them know what to do? Hypothetically. Because they would never kiss. But he could dream. And God, did he dream. Dreamt about Chip's cute face and his cute laugh and his nice smile that still made his heart flutter even though Chip thought his braces made him look weird.

Chip's hand brushed his and Leaf jolted out of his daydream (was it still a daydream if it was night?), jerking his hand back as a reflex.

"Sorry!" Chip whispered quickly.

"It's okay," Leaf whispered back. The sensation lingered, sending a trickle of warmth to his heart. It hadn't felt like Chip was moving and brushed him by accident. It felt like... he was reaching for Leaf's hand. No, no. He was making that up to fill some guilty fantasy about Chip liking him back and trying to flirt with him. Chip was straight. They were just friends, now and forever.

He sighed softly and set his hand back in his lap, reluctantly returning his attention to the movie. It didn't do well to dwell on dreams, and most certainly not dreams about dating your best friends. Better to move on, at least for the moment.


	3. Too In Love to Care About Breaking a Nose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaf and Chip like adventuring. Part of that is climbing trees. Leaf is easily distracted and Chip is unfairly attractive. You can probably see where this is going.

They were outside, combing through the small forest just beyond Leaf's backyard. Now that they were both fourteen and more adventurous, they created new pathways and climbed trees as they went along. The odds were not always in their favor, like the one time when they had both ran through a patch of poison ivy and dealt with rashes for the following week. Neither mom had been particularly pleased about that.

Now they were planning what could be their grandest adventure yet: climbing the tallest tree in the whole forest. They had carefully examined the trees from outside the forest and settled on the one they thought tallest. Their plans were coming to life. Both stood at the base of the tree, looking for a path to the top.

Chip moved first, pulling himself onto the lowest hanging branch, about three feet off the ground. Leaf stole a glance at Chip's body as he found his footing on the branch, appreciative of his muscular build. He didn't even hear what Chip yelled down at him, as he was a little too enthralled with looking at him.

"Come on!" Chip repeated. "Are we climbing or not?" He turned and reached for another branch that was a few feet higher up.

Leaf grinned. "Yeah!" He scrambled up to the first branch, avoiding Chip's dangling legs. After Chip had started up to a higher branch, he stood and reached for the second one. He paused to steal another look at Chip (he had really nice legs... and a nice butt...) and didn't realize how long he was actually taking.

"Leaf. Leaf. Leaf!"

He blinked, still standing on the first branch. "Yeah?"

Chip sat on the third branch, around eight feet off the ground. "Are you okay? We don't have to climb right now if you're not up to it."

"I'm fine! Just a sec." He started lifting himself to the next branch.

"Okay." Chip made his way onto the next branch, bringing himself twelve feet above the ground.

As he pulled himself up, Leaf looked up at Chip for a split second. In that time, he lost his grip on the branch and toppled forward. He hit the ground with a thud.

"Are you okay?"

Leaf rolled over, looked at him, and nodded. His vision was pretty blurry and his face stung a little, but he couldn't help grinning at Chip. Chip, who was too cute for his own good. And for Leaf's, apparently.

"Holy shit, is it broken?"

That snapped Leaf out of his daze. "Is what- Oh! Ouch, that hurts that hurts that HURTS!" He touched it with the tip of his finger and winced. It hurt a lot and he felt like crying. Again, he poked it and flinched.

Chip almost fell out of the tree himself while trying to reach Leaf. "Don't touch it! Hey, just-" he gently took Leaf's hand and brought it away from his face. If Leaf wasn't in so much pain, he would've taken note of how tenderly Chip held his hand. "Just take your hands away from your face." Chip kneeled down, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it. Leaf felt tears run down his cheeks and he sniffled, raising his hand to wipe his nose before realizing that probably wasn't a good idea.

He was caught by surprise when Chip slipped his hand under Leaf's chin and tilted his face up. Chip seemed a little out of it. When Leaf caught his eye he quickly removed his hand. Though the touch had lasted only a few seconds, its absence left a void that Leaf desperately wanted to fill. Even with the pain in his head, he wanted to place Chip's hand back under his chin and put his hands on either sides of Chip's face and kiss him. He felt his hand lift and he shoved it back down. No, Leaf, he told himself. Bad idea.

"We should get you inside. Here," he said, offering Leaf a hand up. Leaf took it, holding onto the hope that someday, someday he wouldn't be holding back from what he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is overlapping "Falling in a Forest" from Chip's 5 Times/1 Time fic.


	4. Two Bros, Chillin' in a Meadow, Two Feet Apart Because They Are Gay But Are Too Scared to Initiate Anything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaf feels sad about school and life in general. As comforting as Chip is, he's also part of the problem, so Leaf feels better, but only slightly.

High school was hard, Leaf was starting to realize, and he didn't like it very much. It wasn't so much the content as his lack of focus that made things difficult. He knew he wasn't dumb, but that didn't make his dropping grades hurt any less. All of this pain and worry collected in his chest until it ached like he had been hit. His throat tightened and he felt like crying whenever he was reminded of his failings.

Leaf's cure-all had always been nature. Whenever his family was overwhelming, he felt upset, or he needed a break, he'd take one of his trusty blankets and lie down in the grassy area in the center of the woods. There, he cloud watched, listened to the birds and insects, and tried to get his troubles out of his head. So, naturally, that's where he headed that afternoon. He wanted to forget high school for just an hour and be a kid again.

It was working. He calmed his breathing and stared at the pale blue sky. 

That cloud looked like a dragon. 

That one looked like a cherry. 

That... was not a cloud. That was Chip leaning over him. Chip grinned. "What's up? Your siblings said you were out here, so I thought I'd come and join you."

Leaf smiled. "Sure, yeah!" He patted the open space next to him. "The blanket's big enough for two."

Chip laid down next to him. They remained silent for a few minutes, simply staring at the sky. Eventually, Chip asked, "Is everything alright, dude?"

Leaf's mouth twitched. Should he tell Chip anything? "... School," he finally said. School and being in love with your best friend, who was lying right next to you. Like, super close. As in their arms were touching. Which didn't have to mean anything, but Leaf wished it did. He was only fourteen but he wanted so badly to touch Chip and to feel Chip's hands running all over his body and to kiss him gently but with a deep understanding of how much they loved each other-

Except Chip didn't love him. He was almost certain of that. 

Almost.

A tiny voice nagged at him, always asking _What if?_ Sometimes he felt like Chip was being so close on purpose, but in all honesty Leaf had no clue what normal friendly closeness was. He had never had a friend quite like Chip before.

His train of thought was interrupted by Chip talking. "You really shouldn't let it get you down so much. It's different for you, and education right now is kinda shitty. They want more memorization and tests and vocab. You're smart! Creative smart. And you know a lot of stuff. Don't measure yourself by what they think is important. They want better test scores. Not better people." He fell silent again. Leaf was surprised when Chip gave his hand a squeeze. "You're smart," he repeated before letting go.

That threw Leaf for a loop. You could hold hands as friends, he knew, but that simple action filled him with the desire to give in and kiss Chip. Despite his doubts about friendly or flirty, he knew he would never bring it up. There was a risk of alienating Chip, and that would be unbearable.

"Thanks," he mumbled. Thanks for being nice and sweet and so cute and so romantically frustrating all the time. He knew Chip wasn't doing it on purpose, but it still made him eternally frustrated that this guy who was so great was always out of his reach.


	5. Leaf's Not That Innocent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaf has a staring problem and a huge crush on his best friend. This does not go well for him.

Leaf had a staring problem. Most of the time, he could play it off as inattentiveness, because it honestly was. But sometimes he was 100% looking at whatever his eyes were fixated on because he very much wanted to be seeing it. Right now, he was staring at Chip. 

Chip was lying on his back on Leaf's bed, carefully balancing himself as he tried to grab his phone off the floor. His shirt rode up as he stretched, and Leaf's eyes couldn't help dwelling on the exposed skin. He lost a temporary fight with gravity and slid off the bed a little, a movement that tugged his shorts down ever so slightly. It wasn't much. Just enough to reveal the very top of his hipbone. That, of course, led his eyes down to a part of Chip that he definitely should not be looking at or thinking about but was doing so anyway.

In the last few months, Leaf had grown into his sexuality. He wasn't sure what it was, but all of a sudden he was thinking about a lot more than kissing Chip. It felt weird, and Leaf always felt just a little nauseous whenever a little daydream popped into his head. He wasn't some ignorant innocent child - he had been made fully aware of what sex was when he was thirteen - but it had never been something he had put much thought into. Turning fifteen had been a weird experience, and now he was finally hitting puberty, apparently. It only took waiting five years on blockers until he could take testosterone. Maybe it was puberty doing this, he realized. Whatever was causing this, he was tired of guessing. Realizing he was most definitely full-on staring at Chip's crotch, he averted his glance and tried to think of something other than his crush.

What was taking Chip so long to get his phone? He looked back just in time to watch Chip fall off of the bed when he tried finally reaching for his phone. He quickly popped up. "I'm fine," he said, smoothing his hair down.

Leaf couldn't help giggling. "Smooth."

"Hey, I still got my phone," he protested. "It's not my fault your bed is unusually tall." Chip settled back on the bed next to Leaf and sighed. "We should do something."

"Like...?"

"I dunno. A movie. Going outside. A board game. Something." He sighed dramatically. "Now that I've retrieved my phone, which was quite dangerous I must say, I am bored."

"Hi bored, I'm Leaf." He grinned at Chip, who did not appreciate the joke.

He elbowed Leaf in the ribs. "You sound like my brother."

He elbowed Chip back. "No, I sound like Leaf." He laughed when Chip rolled over and groaned into the blanket. "And you sound like you're in pain."

"I'm sorry, bad jokes don't sit well with me. I'm bad-joke intolerant," he said, turning his head so he wouldn't be muffled by the blanket.

Oh, God, he looked hot with his face pressed-

No, Leaf, stop. Derail that train of thought. Don't think about that right now. Don't think about how much you want to tell him you like him and how you want to kiss him and how it would be _so easy_ to roll him over and sit on his lap and-

"I'm gonna be right back. Bathroom." He bolted from the room. Just a few minutes to cool down and dig his mind out of the gutter. That was all he needed. To cool down. Because calming down and forgetting about it was the only way this torturous crush was going to end for him.


	6. Some Gay Shit Right Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaf has grown more suspicious about Chip's feelings for him. Just in time, because that made everything that happened after the 29th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee a little less shocking.

He had invited Chip over in a moment of pure excitement, overwhelmed by the idea of winning. Now that he was thinking more clearly, it felt like a mistake. He felt weird about Chip, and ideas (unwanted but not unappreciated) flowed through his head at night. He wanted so very badly to wrap his arms around Chip's neck and smush their faces together and tell him how much he loved him. There were a lot more thoughts about Chip, but they were definitely not as PG as his initial ones and were therefore avoided because Chip was sitting across from him.

They were in the middle of a game of Monopoly, one that Leaf was quite obviously losing. He didn't care, though, because he was having fun with Chip. God, he was so cute when he smiled. It was so gentle and soft and comforting and it made his heart soar to see. It was hard to tear his eyes away.

Eventually, the game ended and they cleaned the board up. He sighed. "There's still, like, an hour." That stretch of time made him nervous. Maybe it was just because of the excitement of winning the bee, but he wasn't sure if he could keep his crush guarded around Chip for much longer. The desire to sit in his lap and hold his face in his hands and pull him in for a kiss was growing exponentially the longer he looked at him.

"Well, we could play another board game, a party game, or just chill."

An idea! He only had a vague idea of what party games were, but from what he knew, most of them involved asking questions. Maybe, if he was sneaky enough, he could figure out if Chip was interested in guys. "Party game? Like what?"

"Uh..." Chip stopped to think. "Pretty much everything we played on camping trips was a group game." He paused again. "Twenty questions? That's good for two people."

That sounded simple enough, but he wanted to make sure there weren't any secret rules. "How do you play it?"

"Well, uh, you ask each other twenty questions."

Duh. "Sure! Who starts?"

"You can, if you want," Chip said.

"Alright..." He thought long and hard, trying to think of how to build up his questions to where he could see if Chip liked him at all or not. "One. What's your favorite color?"

"Yellow. I think. Um, favorite food?"

To prevent himself from staring at Chip, he rocked back and forth as he thought. "Ooh, hard question. Probably KitKats. Two, why do you keep doing the spelling bee?" That was hopefully a serious question that wasn't too personal.

"I... I'm good at spelling and I want to get back to nationals and do better than the last time I went. What's your favorite class at your school?"

Easy enough. "History. I like learning facts even though I have trouble sitting still and reading the textbook. Three. Um..." He decided to go for romantic question. "Have you ever kissed somebody?"

Chip laughed. God, he had a beautiful laugh. "No. Have you?"

It may have been Leaf's eternal optimism, but the way Chip said it made Leaf feel hopeful, like he had a chance. He shook his head in response to the question. "Four. What do you want to do when you graduate?" He had to balance out the questions so it wasn't so weirdly intense. 

"I'm not... sure. I don't know what I want to do. What about you?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "I dunno what I'm good at. Five." He took a shallow breath and went in with another important question. "Do you like anyone?"

"Yeah." Okay, Chip was blushing. "Do you?"

Leaf was starting to get giddy off of the idea that Chip might actually like him back. He nodded, a little excited, and tried to think of another question, shoving down distracting thoughts and fantasies. "Six." Oh! Time for an actual question he had. "Why'd you get out today? We went over that word when we were studying." Leaf hadn't noticed what had happened. He had (faintly) heard the word lubricant and then he had been too busy staring at the wall and "thinking" to follow along. The next thing he knew, Chip was out.

Chip looked nervous. "I panicked."

Panicked? "Is it okay if I ask why? For seven?"

"If I can ask one first."

Well, duh. "Your turn."

"Do..." He looked like he was going to choke. "Do you like guys?" Chip asked.

Wait. Chip didn't know he was gay? How? "Yeah," he said casually. “Is it my turn now?" He asked.

Chip nodded.

"Okay. Uh. Why did you panic? You're so good at spelling, you shouldn't need to be nervous."

Chip started fidgeting. He bit his lip and stuttered, "I. Well, I, I..." before trailing off. That combined with some vague gesticulation gave Leaf all the clues he needed.

He laughed for a second, then stopped, feeling guilty. "I shouldn't laugh at that, but seriously, again?" He kept laughing and was soon joined by Chip. Chip cut off suddenly, drawing Leaf's attention. "Are you okay?" He asked, suddenly aware of Chip's pained expression.

"I'm fine," he said, a little strained.

Leaf gave him a once-over. "You sound funny, are you sure-". He saw the erection. Everything clicked. "Is that- what- uh, why?" He managed to stutter out. Did... Chip like him? Like that?

"I, I like you," Chip managed, turning cherry red.

Leaf flushed and his voice became squeaky. "Really?" Oh my god, he did! He did he did he did!!

Chip nodded shyly. Leaf was absolutely stunned. He stared intensely at Chip, summoning the will to act on his prior impulsive thoughts. He practically launched himself at Chip, pinning him to the ground.

“You really, actually like me?” He asked again.

“Yeah. For a long time,” Chip said. “I think you’re cute and funny and nice and, well, I think at this point it’s kind of obvious that I’m into guys, so… yeah. I like you.”

Leaf leaned down, then stopped. He really, really wanted to kiss him, but he knew he had to make sure Chip wouldn’t freak out about dating a trans guy. “I need to tell you something,” he said, sitting up.

“What? What is it?”

“I’m… I didn’t fully come out to you when I told you I was gay.” He pursed his lips and thought long and hard before saying, “I’m transgender.”

“Okay. Uh… thanks for telling me. I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me.”

A weight lifted off his shoulders.“You’re not going to freak out or say you don’t like me anymore?”

“No?” Chip looked confused. “I like you. That’s not going to change. Does that mean anything’s different, like you don’t want me to touch you in certain places or that we can’t-“

“I’m not sure,” Leaf said, cutting him off. He didn’t have a clue, but he figured that that was one more thing he’d learn by dating Cip. “But if you know that and you still like me, then I think I’m gonna kiss you right now because I’ve liked you for a super long time and you like me too.”

“Okay.” Leaf leaned in, but Chip stopped him. “Wait, so can I ask you something? You can tell me to fuck off or shut up if it’s stupid.”

Leaf sat up again. “What?”

“Are you and Marigold identical, then?” When he nodded, Chip sighed. “That answers a lot of questions. You’re still the cuter twin, though.” He paused. “Do you want me to say handsomer instead? Is cute okay?”

“Cute is fine,” he said with a soft smile. It was so considerate and adorable that he asked.

Chip gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Well, no matter what, you’re the handsomest guy I know and I think I'm in love with you."

Leaf giggled and laid down on top of him. “You’re the best,” he said, nuzzling his face against Chip’s cheek.

“So… are we going to kiss? You were headed that way, and then we started talking, but I still think it’d be kinda neat to finally… you know…”

“Kiss me?” Leaf finished. “Yeah, I think it’d be pretty nice too.” He sat up a bit and looked down at Chip. “Here goes,” he said. Leaf slowly leaned down, stopping just above his face. Shit, he couldn’t do it. He was too scared to close the gap. He had wanted this for three long years and now he was too scared of this being a fantasy, too. Chip finally placed a hand on the back of his head and pulled him in.

Leaf felt right at home kissing him. It was warm and tender and clumsy. Authentically _them_. Leaf shifted away for a second to catch his breath, then moved back to Chip. He was trying his best, but he didn’t have any experience to go off of. Oh, crap, his mouth was halfway off of Chip’s. He shifted again, trying to better angle himself. Chip moaned softly.

Leaf shot up. “Whaaat was that?” He asked nervously. Did Chip just do that? 

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it.” He blushed. “When you moved, it kind of…”

“Oh. Oh! Oh, geez. Okay.” He was quiet for about ten seconds. Long enough to process that Chip liked him like that. Then he said, “Do you wanna, like, makeout?”

Chip snorted. “Take a guess, bud.”

“I just wanted to ask in case this was like, little kisses only.”

“Leaf, this is a ‘I’ll go as far as I can because I’m hopelessly in love and super desperate to touch you’ kind of thing.”

Leaf smiled and rolled his eyes. “Horny boy.” He should’ve expected that out of Chip.

“Sticks and stones.” He raised an eyebrow. “So about that making out idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Could we move to your bed? I’m going to be sore as hell tomorrow if I lie on the floor any longer.”

Leaf rolled off of him and sat up. “Yeah. Here I’ll give you a hand up.” He pulled Chip up off of the ground, their fingers laced together. “We’re holding hands,” he noted, a hint of excitement lacing his voice.

Chip snorted and pulled him over to the bed. “Don’t be scandalized. We just kissed, Leaf.”

“I’m not scandalized,” he said, sitting down on the bed. “I’m happy.” As soon as Chip sat down, Leaf rolled over into him, pinning him against the bed.

“Hello there,” Chip said, squeezing his arms out from under Leaf. His hands found their place on either side of Leaf’s waist.

Leaf smiled and leaned in. Time for something entirely new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue seem familiar to you? This is Leaf's perspective on the happenings in Chapter 3 of The 29th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee!


End file.
